Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
August 20
From the Inside Out
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever--the Spirit of truth.
John 14:16-17 (NCV)
Do-it-yourself Christianity is not much encouragement to the done-in and worn-out.
Self-sanctification holds little hope for the addict. . . .
At some point we need more than good advice; we need help. Somewhere on this journey home we realize that a fifty-fifty proposition is too little. We need more. . . .
We need help. Help from the inside out. . . . Not near us. Not above us. Not around us. But in us. In the part of us we don't even know. In the heart no one else has seen. In the hidden recesses of our being dwells, not an angel, not a philosophy, not a genie, but God.
1 Timothy 3
Overseers and Deacons
1Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer,[a] he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
8Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11In the same way, their wives[b] are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
12A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
14Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, 15if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. 16Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He[c] appeared in a body,[d]
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
2 Chronicles 15
Asa's Reform
1 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. 2 He went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. 4 But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. 5 In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. 6 One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. 7 But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded."
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of [a] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD's temple.
9 Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
10 They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign. 11 At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from the plunder they had brought back. 12 They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. 13 All who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. 14 They took an oath to the LORD with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on
August 20, 2008
Whose Side Is God On?
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READ: 2 Chronicles 15:1-15
The Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. —1 Chronicles 28:9
I do not boast that God is on my side,” wrote Abraham Lincoln. “I humbly pray that I am on God’s side.”
Lincoln’s words paraphrase the thoughts Azariah expressed to King Asa of Judah. After the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, he said, “The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (2 Chron. 15:2).
Throughout history, people have done despicable deeds while boldly claiming that God was on their side. But being a Christian doesn’t guarantee that God is “on our side” any more than being an ancient Israelite guaranteed that God was on theirs (Isa. 3:14-15). God is on the side of those who are on His side—who know His heart and mind and do His will—not those who insist on convincing God and others that their way is right.
Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord indicated that He sides with the oppressed (Isa. 58:6-7,10). For Christians, that means it is right to be on the side of those who are being wronged.
Instead of jumping into a situation with the presumption that God is on our side, we need to be certain that we are on His. — Julie Ackerman Link
Who will leave the world’s side? Who will face the foe?
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who for Him will go?
By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Savior, we are Thine! —Havergal
It’s dangerous to mistake our wishes for God’s will.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 20, 2008
Christ-Awareness
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READ:
. . . and I will give you rest —Matthew 11:28
Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, "Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already." Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.
A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, "Lord, what is your will?" A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.
If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, "Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest," that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest— the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Out of Control, Heading Downhill - #5638 - August 20, 2008
Category: Your Personal Power
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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My friend, Bill, was used to handling heavy equipment, but he wasn't used to what happened that particular day. He had his trailer hitched to his dump truck. And Bill was driving his backhoe onto the trailer. One small problem - sort of a physics problem. As the weight of Bill and his backhoe pressed on the back of the trailer, the rear wheels of the dump truck were suddenly lifted up into the air which means no brakes on a downhill slope yet! So try to picture this: this man riding on a backhoe which is riding on a trailer, which is hitched to a truck that is heading straight downhill out-of-control. I said, "Bill, what did you say?" His answer was pretty simple, "Oh no! Oh no!!" He had absolutely no control. So how did he live to tell about it? Well, he threw that backhoe in reverse and backed off as fast as he could. Balance was restored and the truck and trailer - well, they jackknifed. And I'm not even making any of this up!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Out of Control, Heading Downhill."
That had to be one scary feeling, man, no brakes, racing downhill, out-of-control. It's a feeling too many of us know all too well when we're faced with one of those temptations that pull at us so hard. In fact, someone is listening today who is losing their brakes, spiritually, morally. You're losing control; you're headed for a crash.
I guess you're in the greatest danger if you're slipping and you can't even see it. Satan seldom destroys us through explosion; he does it through erosion - just slowly getting you to compromise a little bit more, to lower your guard, to get closer and closer to the flame. It's getting harder and harder maybe to resist what you know is wrong. Your brakes are slipping. And you can be sure the Biblical equation will prove tragically correct in your life. James 1:15, "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."
If you're starting to lose control, if your downhill slide is accelerating, you have got to do what my friend did to save himself - back out fast! Our word for today from the Word of God provides a powerful example of the action that is going to save you a lot of scars, a lot of shame. Joseph has been taken as a slave to Egypt where he earns the top position in the household of a powerful official. But one day he is faced with the mega-temptation of a beautiful woman just offering herself to him. It was his master's wife!
In Genesis 39, beginning with verse 7, the Bible says, "After a while, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, 'Come to bed with me!' But he refused." That was hard enough, but this lady was there every day! And God tells us the very practical secret for putting on the brakes. "And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her." Joseph remained pure by totally backing away from the source of his temptation.
That's what it's going to take for you, too. Think about what it is or who it is that's pulling you away from God's best - that's weakening your resistance to sin. You have to back out fast - out of that relationship, out of that group of people, out of that music, out of those things you've been reading or watching, out of those internet sites, out of those fantasies. You've got to start fleeing the evil that you have been flirting with; avoiding the temptation that you've been reaching for, because it's all downhill from here. A crash is where this goes unless you back out now.
